Metro work: Smaller board replaces giant VIP Rd signage
Times of India | 7 June 2024
Kolkata: The state PWD has started the process of removing the huge direction signboard on VIP Road to make way for construction of the last leg of the New Garia-Airport corridor. A much smaller ‘T’-shaped signage, directing motorists to New Town, Kolkata and the airport, has been installed.
TOI reported on May 21 that the giant hoarding across the width of VIP Road was posing as the latest hurdle for the construction of the ramp for the Orange line.Bidhannagar Police’s traffic department was unable to hand over the entire site required for the ramp, apprehending that vehicles speeding down from the airport and diverted through the new road on the eastern flank would crash into one of the piers of the huge signboard.
Dismantling of the giant board will start from Thursday night once traffic thins, PWD officials said. After the hoarding goes, RVNL will barricade a 14-m wide area instead of the current 8 m. While PWD is the custodian of VIP Road, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) is the implementing agency of the 29-km New Garia-Airport corridor. In meetings, RVNL had pointed out that one of the piers of the giant hoarding was hindering progress of the metro corridor. PWD agreed to replace the big hoarding with a smaller one. Instead of supporting the board on two piers, a ‘T’-shaped billboard has now come up on the median just after Kaikhali crossing.
On April 26, traffic department handed over the site to the metro authorities for the ramp construction and RVNL had built an 11-m wide road on the eastern flank for vehicle diversion. At present, piling work for the ramp is on. “Instead of four rows of piling, it’s only possible to build two rows because only 60% of the site was available,” the Railways official said.